The present invention is related to telephone and software systems and processes which inhibit telephonic communications to a particular telephone number or other identified destination. More particularly, the present invention is related to systems and processes for automatic update and override of telephone numbers with which communication is to be inhibited.
Most telephone systems are capable of preventing telephone connections from being established according to the telephone number dialed. Such systems are provided by a telephone service provider and typically are used to block telephone calls that would incur a fee, such as long distances calls or numbers having a xe2x80x9c1-900xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c1-976xe2x80x9d prefix. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,786,196 and 5,109,408.
Recently, federal, state and industry-imposed telephone solicitation laws and regulations mandate that a consumer, who expresses a desire not to be solicited by telephone, not be called. By regulation, a list must be maintained by each company and is commonly called a xe2x80x9cdo-not-callxe2x80x9d list. In order to comply with these laws and regulations, most companies have instituted a procedure whereby a telephone solicitor prepares a memo listing the telephone numbers for which consumers have indicated a desire not be solicited. These numbers eventually are provided to the telephone service provider of the company. The telephone service provider programs the central office (e.g. 40 in FIG. 3) associated with the company""s office to prevent telephone calls to the listed telephone numbers from phones within the company. Other individual offices in the company are not prevented from calling numbers on the xe2x80x9cdo-not-callxe2x80x9d list unless the telephone service provider programs each individual number in each central office associated with each office of the company.
One problem with this methodology is that the ability to add a number to a set of prohibited numbers requires a significant amount of manual effort, which is fraught with error, delay, and requires the telephone service provider to do the programming. It also is difficult to override the blocking system without repeating the entire process in reverse. For example, a personal or other acceptable business call to a number would be completely blocked because the number is on the xe2x80x9cdo-not-callxe2x80x9d list.
The limitations of these systems are overcome with the system in an embodiment of the present invention by allowing numbers to be added automatically to a list of prohibited numbers governing all offices of the company and for inhibited numbers to be temporarily overridden using the same communication device that makes a telephone call. This system and process eliminates the intermediate list maintenance, distribution and intervention by the telephone service provider.
Accordingly, one aspect of the invention is a control device for selectively inhibiting communication between a communication device and a destination over a network. The communication device is connected to the network by a communication medium and has an input mechanism which is operative in response to a user to generate an identifier of the destination. This identifier is sent over the communication medium to the network to initiate communication with the destination. The input mechanism of the communication device is operative in response to a user to generate an update signal sent over the communication medium and indicating that communication with the destination corresponding to a most recently sent identifier should be inhibited. The control device is connected to the communication medium and a database to store identifiers for destinations and indicative of destinations for which communication is to be inhibited. In such a control device, the presence of the identifier on the communication medium is detected. The identifier is compared to identifiers in the database. Communication may be inhibited between the communication device and the destination based on the comparison made with the database. Presence of the update signal on the communication medium is detected and the database is modified according to the most recently sent identifier when the signal is detected.
Another embodiment of the present invention is a control device or process for selectively permitting communication between a communication device and a destination over a network. The communication device has an input mechanism which is operative in response to a user to generate an identifier of the destination. This identifier is sent over the communication medium to the network to initiate communication with the destination. The communication device, has an input mechanism which is operative in response to a user to generate an override signal sent over the communication medium and indicating that communication with the destination corresponding to a most recently sent identifier should be permitted. The control device is connected to the communication medium and a database to store identifiers for destinations and indicative of destinations for which communication is to be inhibited. In this embodiment, the presence of the identifier on the communication medium is detected. The identifier is compared to identifiers in the database. Communication between the communication device and the destination may be temporarily inhibited based on the comparison made with the database. If the override signal is detected on the communication medium after communication has been inhibited, then communication between the communication device and the destination is permitted. The override signal may be stored in the database. It is probable that the communication inhibiting tone or message will be heard by the caller before a connection is made to the called party.
The communication device in the present invention may include a computer, a telephone, or any other communication mechanism. The identifier of a destination may include a telephone number or a computer network address. The identifier in the present invention may be detected in an analog or digital environment at a voice frequency or at a carrier frequency.
The communication inhibited in the present invention may include voice transmissions and data transmissions. The communication may be inhibited by overlaying a tone or voice message or generating a software command over the communication medium or any combination thereof.
The communication medium in the present invention may include an analog or digital communication format and the network may be circuit or packet switched.
The database in the present invention may include an object-oriented or relational database or a flat file. The database may be accessed using read and write commands or a query language, such as SQL. The database in the present invention may be automatically updated and may be used to automatically update the communication device.
The database in the present invention may include a plurality of network databases. An override or update signal or identifiers for destinations may be stored in a local database. The plurality of network databases may be periodically updated with information in the local database.